Bill Moyers and Michael Winship: Democracy is answer, not guns

We were struck this week by one response to our broadcast last week on gun violence and the Newtown school killings. A visitor to the website wrote, “It is interesting to me that Bill Moyers, who every week describes the massive levels of corruption in our government… (and) the advocates for gun control, don...

We were struck this week by one response to our broadcast last week on gun violence and the Newtown school killings. A visitor to the website wrote, “It is interesting to me that Bill Moyers, who every week describes the massive levels of corruption in our government… (and) the advocates for gun control, don't understand that we who own guns in part own them to be sure that when our government becomes so corrupt we have guns to do something about it.”

About the same time that man’s post showed up on the web, we saw the startling survey from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind polling organization, the one finding that nearly three in 10 registered voters agree with the statement, “In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties.” That includes 44 percent of Republicans, 27 percent of independents and 18 percent of Democrats.

That poll also noted that a quarter of Americans think that the facts about the Newtown shootings “are being hidden” and an additional 11 percent “are unsure.” As Sahil Kapur wrote at the website Talking Points Memo, “The eye-opening findings serve as a reminder that Americans’ deeply held beliefs about gun rights have a tendency to cross over into outright conspiracy theories about a nefarious government seeking to trample their constitutional rights — paranoia that pro-gun groups like the National Rifle Association have at times helped stoke.”

Paranoia and just plain meanness. On May 8, Christina Wilkie in The Huffington Post reported that Connecticut Carry, a pro-gun lobbying group, had issued a press release detailing the arrest record and financial difficulties of Neil Heslin, father of one of the children murdered at Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary School. Connecticut Carry accused him of “profiting off of the tragedy.” Similar smears have been attempted against other Newtown parents.

This hate in our country – egged on by fervid ideologues and profiteering fearmongers – is palpable, stirred by years of irresponsible invective against public officials and agencies. Gun sales are going through the roof. In a sense, so much anger and so much disillusionment are understandable in a country where the gap between rich and poor is so vast that an environment is created in which brooding resentment is easily hatched. Sure, there is corruption in government and business – crony capitalism is the offspring of it — and when the public sees plutocrats who regard politicians as the hired help and Washington as the feeding trough, it’s natural to fear that we are becoming vassals; subjects rather than citizens. But a violent uprising, with all the bloodshed and chaos that would follow?

There is an alternative. It’s called democracy. Yes, there is plenty of injustice, greed and sheer wickedness. But don’t mourn the fact – organize. Stop wringing your hands and berating real and imaginary foes. Join up with others, stand up to the exploiters, throw the rascals out. If Congress and the White House are crooked and out of touch, come Election Day, you make sure they lose. And on all the other days, when you can, you work for change and demand a say.

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It takes long and patient activism to make democracy work. But with committed people organized and united toward common goals of social justice and accountability, victories are possible. Drop your weapons and celebrate that we live in a country where peaceful change is still possible. Make democracy work.

Bill Moyers is managing editor and Michael Winship, senior writer at the think tank Demos and native of Canandaigua, is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program, Moyers & Company, airing on public television. Check local airtimes or comment at www.BillMoyers.com.